U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)

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Providers, vendors both to blame for information blocking

Dan Bowman | FierceHealthIT | April 10, 2015

Most information blocking in healthcare is "beyond the current reach" of federal agencies to detect, investigate and address, according to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT's report to Congress published Friday. Read More »

Quest Opens Direct Access To Lab Results

David F Carr | Information Week | April 11, 2014

Quest Diagnostics capitalizes on regulatory change and gives patients access to their own lab results on the web and mobile devices, boosting its own EHR software in the process.

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Strengthening Protection of Patient Medical Data

Adam Tanner | The Century Foundation | January 10, 2017

Americans seeking medical care expect a certain level of privacy. Indeed, the need for patient privacy is a principle dating back to antiquity, and is codified in U.S. law, most notably the Privacy Rule of the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which establishes standards that work toward protecting patient health information. But the world of information is rapidly changing, and in this environment, U.S. rules fall precariously short in protecting our medical data...

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Superbugs Spread Across U.S.

Brian Hughes | Washington Examiner | October 6, 2014

As Americans worry about Ebola, the swiftly spreading virus that has traveled from West Africa to Texas, a more silent killer poses a greater danger...Drug-resistant bacteria killed 23,000 people in America last year and caused 2 million illnesses...

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Surprise: Every American Will Not Have An Electronic Health Record This Year

Bob Brewin | Nextgov.com | October 9, 2014

In 2004, President George W. Bush kicked off a project designed to provide most Americans with an electronic health record in 2014. That was followed by a similar goal set by President Barack Obama in 2009.  But as the end of 2014 comes nearer, these ambitious goals still have not been met...

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Tech’s Role In Fighting The Ebola Outbreak

Nicole Blake Johnson | FedTech Magazine | October 6, 2014

...The U.S. government is eyeing body sensors, ruggedized tablet computers, broadband communications and big data capabilities to aid its Ebola response. A high priority on the list is using innovative technologies to improve the protective gear worn by healthcare workers on the frontlines...

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Telehealth Groups Ask Burwell For Relief

Tom Sullivan, | Government Health IT | June 11, 2014

A group of telemedicine and mHealth associations have reminded the new HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell that $36 billion in healthcare costs could be saved with remote monitoring -- providing better care, reduced hospitalizations and readmissions, complication avoidance and improved satisfaction among chronically ill patients...

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Telehealth Progress Requires Beefed Up Network Infrastructure

Rutrell Yasin | Federal Times | January 23, 2015

Federal agencies have applied telehealth technology in innovative ways to expand health care beyond the walls of veterans' hospitals and other care facilities. Current efforts allow caregivers to reach patients in their daily lives while clinicians and specialists can share and archive medical information...

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The $100,000-Per-Year Pill: How US Health Agencies Choose Pharma Over Patients

Fran Quigley | TruthOut | August 5, 2016

Don Reichmuth survived prostate cancer once before, back in 2007, so his physician was concerned when tests recently revealed the cancer had returned. Reichmuth's physician prescribed a drug called enzalutamide, marketed by the Japanese company Astellas Pharma, Inc. under the brand name Xtandi. But when the physician sent the prescription to the pharmacy, the managers of Reichmuth's insurance plan sent back an immediate refusal to approve it. Reichmuth, a retired teacher who lives in Washington State, was puzzled by the logic. Then he learned the price of the Xtandi prescription: over $9,700 each month...

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Top 5 Government Health IT Stories Of The Summer

Tom Sullivan, | Government Health IT | August 29, 2014

Call it the season of interoperability. That was the biggest topic of the summer among Government Health IT readers...

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U.S. Publishes New “Open Data Action Plan,” Announces New Data Releases

Alexander Howard | E Pluribus Unum | May 9, 2014

On the one year anniversary of President Barack Obama’s historic executive order to open up more government data, U.S. chief information officer Steven VanRoekel and U.S. chief technology officer Todd Park described “continued progress and plans for open government data” at the WhiteHouse.gov blog....

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U.S. Researchers, U.K. Partner On Open Data Healthcare Framework

Susan D. Hall | Fierce Health IT | June 4, 2014

The creation of a blueprint for the use of open data in healthcare was the driving force behind a recent collaboration between researchers at New York University's GovLab and England's National Health Service...

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Unintended Consequences Of ICD-10 Delay

Tom Sullivan, | Government Health IT | April 30, 2014

Hebert, Humana’s ICD-10 program manager, predicted that if the current delay goes out beyond one year, large payers will essentially “mothball” the project with the intention to reinstate ICD-10 work roughly 6 months ahead of whatever might be the new date...

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US Government Office Of The National Coordinator For Health Information Technology (ONC) Joins the OpenID Foundation

Mike Leszcz | OpenID | August 21, 2014

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) located within the Office of the Secretary for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has joined the OpenID Foundation (OIDF). ONC is the principal federal entity charged with coordination of nationwide efforts to implement and utilize the most advanced health information technology for the electronic exchange of health information...

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Viral Intelligence

Mark Sircus | DrSircus.com | October 8, 2014

The CDC thinks that American hospitals are prepared to handle Ebola. RNs beg to differ...

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